Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Was incubating my egg around 80-82. This afternoon, when I checked it, the egg was 85.8. I panicked, opened the lid, and it cooled off to around 81. Checked the egg 10 minutes later and it was ~84. Dropped the incubator way down and now have th egg steady at 80. I'm not sure what caused the spike (haven't had any problems before). Egg is a few days short of 2 weeks in the incubator.

What are the chances the egg has been permanently damaged from this incident?
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3.3 Western Hognose
1.1 Ball Pythons

Shouldn't hurt. But I would get rid of the incubator. Put eggs on a shelf at about 78-82. Eliminate the overheating chance. Mike Bodner

I plan to, but can't right now. There is no where warm enough to incubate eggs in my apartment. We have almost no insulation so we have to freeze the downstairs to keep the upstairs habitable (75F). And even then it will fluctuate ~20 degrees during the day. When we move and get more room I plan to either heat a guest bedroom or convert a fridge.
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4.4 Western Hognose
1.1 Ball Pythons

I know from experience with kingsnake eggs that constant high temps are bad, but high temps for a few hours a day does not hurt them. I had mine go to close to 90 deg for a few hours a day for a good week or two with no problems. Probably similar for hognose, not sure. But 85-86 deg is not even what I would call dangerous for one day, so you are fine.

I agree with pike that lower temps are just safer overall, less chance of accidents.